The Other Differences
by Cat o'thWind
Summary: Through an act of stupidity, Danny gets himself seen not just by one, but -three- people. Yet why are none of them spreading his secret around? And why are weirder things than ghosts starting to prowl Casper High?
1. Discovering

Summary: Through an act of stupidity, Danny gets himself seen not just by one, but -three- people. Yet why are none of them spreading his secret around? And why are weirder things than ghosts starting to prowl Casper High?  
  
Disclaimer: Ha. Yeah, all I own is the plot and Aisling.  
  
-  
  
Chatter, laughter and the sound of slamming locker doors filled the halls of Casper High. It was the beginning of the day, and most everyone was trying to catch up on whatever had happened after school yesterday. The rest of the people were either huddled in their own little groups, or sleepily glaring at people with that look that says I'm-am-NOT-a-morning- person.  
  
Like a little island of quiet among the throng of movement, one of those groups were talking casually together. Danny, Samantha (though she demanded being called Sam) and Tucker didn't look like anything special. They weren't average, in fact those higher on the High School social chain would call them losers, but you wouldn't take a second look at them. Perhaps you would if you knew what they had seen, and what one of them was. The fact was that through a freak accident, Danny had gotten himself the ability to become a ghost. Sam and Tucker were the only people he had confided this to.  
  
The day dragged on. Algebra, civics, lit, all blurred into one giant mess of work. Lunch was a brief break from everything, and Dash (Danny's self proclaimed tormenter) appeared to have gotten himself a new girlfriend ("Do they always have to be sluts?" was Sam's question), so they didn't have to deal with him.  
  
After lunch, nothing of interest happened and everyone was glad to escape to a weekend of freedom. But things always have to interfere and as the three were gathering their books to leave, Danny gasped slightly as his breath wisped clearly out of his mouth.  
  
"There's a ghost around?" Tuck asked.  
  
"Yeah..." Was Danny's response. He scanned the halls. There were only a few people still there, and he waited tensely for them to leave. At the end of the hall, a floes ant light fizzled out, while another one, closer, began flickering ominously. Danny grimaced.  
  
"I can't wait." With that, he tensed and his expression set, while a whirl of light lashed up and down, leaving him with pale white hair and glowing green eyes.  
  
It was only then that he noticed the three people who had turned the corner just moments before and were standing with eyes wide, staring at him. The ghost boy cringed noticeably. Sam stared scathingly at them as if they were being terrified of someone blinking.  
  
"What?"  
  
Two of them fled. The remaining one stood stock still, giving them all a good time to look at her. She had dark skin, tick gold bracelets on her arm, and a lip that curled up in a frightened snarl.  
  
"Go." Demanded Sam, and the girl paused, studying the phantom before her, then ran.  
  
"That was smooth." Tuck commented. Danny only frowned.  
  
"But they saw-" He was cut off by a blast of energy that hit him squarely in the chest. He was knocked back, but thankfully not injured. Darting forward, he faced a slim little ghoul with gnashing teeth and sharp looking fingers. It flashed forward and in his surprise, he grabbed one of its arms and held on. To his surprise, it didn't pull free. Apparently it was fast, but not very strong.  
  
"Uh, I need the thermos."  
  
A beam of light pulled the thing into their thermos, where Tucker gave it an aggressive shake. Danny felt no victory. He had been seen.  
  
"It's okay." Though Sam's voice sounded too strong from him to believe it. "They probably won't believe what they saw. People are like that."  
  
Danny certainly hoped so. 


	2. Misunderstandings

Summary: Through an act of stupidity, Danny gets himself seen not just by one, but -three- people. Yet why are none of them spreading his secret around? And why are weirder things than ghosts starting to prowl Casper High?  
  
Disclaimer: Ha. Yeah, all I own is the plot and Aisling.  
  
-  
  
The weekend was nerve racking. Neither Danny, Sam or Tucker has recognized any of the people by name, so he spent the day raiding Jazz's collection of year books and pouring over them in an attempt to try and do something about what had happened. By the end of two hours, he was cursing the fact that people were allowed to change their hair, get braces, grow and blink. Mostly he hated the poor quality and minuscule size of the pictures. There was no hope of identifying any of the people.  
  
So he mopped around for a while. Eventually, homework caught up with him, and he sat down to dredge through that.  
  
On Monday morning he was tense, and woke earlier than usual, worrying about what his social standing would be at school. Though he considered faking it sick, he knew his parents wouldn't buy it.  
  
So he arrived at school, slinking along walls, hoping not to be seen. But when he was spotted, no one looked at him oddly, or whispered. This didn't give him much hope. The people may not have been able to blab to others yet. It would only be a matter of time. Yet the day went on with no incident.  
  
And another.  
  
And another.  
  
On Thursday, he was wondering what was going on. People should know by now. He didn't expect them to know exactly what he was, but from what they had seen, he should be nailed as a freak for life. But nothing happened.  
  
But just before school ended, he spotted the dark girl. After a pause, he dashed after her. It was hard, the crowd was going in another direction, but he fought forward, wondering where she was going.  
  
When she slipped out of view, he almost panicked. For some reason, it was very important to talk to this girl. Finding the hall she had slipped into, he followed quietly, glancing around.  
  
There. She was standing with her back to him, messing about in her locker. He was astounded when she pulled out thin metal rod, slightly crooked at the tip. After that, she extracted a normal coat, pulled it on, and walked down the hall towards a back exist. Danny followed.  
  
The back exit led away from where the busses stopped to pick people up. All there was behind the school was a strip of grass, then some woods, each tree branch glittering in snow. The girl strode towards them carefully, then, turned about to see if anyone was watching. And for once someone was. Her eyes narrowed.  
  
"You're the one from the hall." It was a statement, not a question. Danny stared back at her, knowing he couldn't deny it, but trying to work out some excuse for what she had seen.  
  
It was then he noticed she was staring at him, her eyes holding an odd and intensely interested expression. It slowly dawned on him that it was too cold for him to see if this girl was a ghost. That could explain the weirdness. And she was showing no fear, only a slightly predatory interest, one he recognized a as the way some ghosts acted when they thought he hadn't figured them out. He narrowed his eyes. She seemed to take this as a conformation, and showed sharp teeth.  
  
"So, you are..." But she didn't finish the sentence, for the boy before her seemed to have decided to do what he had before. A brief flash of light, and, suddenly he was flying (flying!) toward her.  
  
He was just about to push her down she did the most unexpected thing. Her head darted forward, and she snapped her jaws at his arm, teeth coming together with a distinct clack. He could have dealt with this, but it was so unexpected, the ghost boy pulled his hand back, and drifted up, looking confused.  
  
Below, the girl let out a stream of obstinacies pertaining to his actions, then looked up and yelled at him directly.  
  
"Rule! Number! One! Do NOT_ randomly_ pick fights for no reason!" She bellowed. Danny cringed. He had just confirmed what she had seen and attacked someone who was not a ghost and had done nothing more than be curious and accept him. Acceptance. That was it. She didn't know what he was, but she didn't care, and had treated him normally. And he had rushed her. He groaned.  
  
"Oh, now you see?" The girl said, then sighed, and said in a calmer voice. "What the hell _are_ you anyways?"  
  
Danny looked away. Shoudl he tell. She had seen him, but it would be turning over trust to someone he didn't even know. 


	3. Secrets

Summary: Through an act of stupidity, Danny gets himself seen not just by one, but -three- people. Yet why are none of them spreading his secret around? And why are weirder things than ghosts starting to prowl Casper High?  
  
Disclaimer: Ha. Yeah, all I own is the plot and Aisling.  
  
-  
  
Danny didn't know if he should tell or not. Yes, this girl had accepted him as he was, but he had just met her, and plus, she had practically bitten him. The girl seemed to catch the the hestitation, for she relaxed slightly and spoke in more normal tone.  
  
"Look, before anything else, you should come down and turn back to normal. You can do that right? And I won't bite if you don't try to kill me." She was perfectly serious.  
  
Danny floated down, and resumed human form, glad that though he was no long above her head, he was still taller than this girl. She seemed to have settled down and was studying him, her expression the same as it had been before, intense and curious, though now that he was closer, he could she that it was also friendly.  
  
"Okay, here's how it goes. I'm Aisling. You're..."  
  
"Danny."  
  
"Danny, okay. I saw you turn into, uh, that in the hall. Why?"  
  
"There was a, well, it was ghost."  
  
She nodded at that. Danny was glad.  
  
"Okay. But why did you attack me?"  
  
"I well, heh, though you were ghost."  
  
"Oh." Aisling's voice was irritated, but amused. "So you're a ghost hunter?"  
  
"Well, not like... You see." There was a pause. "I'm a half ghost." He cringed, waiting, just waiting for the scream, the reaction, the sudden fear of what he was.  
  
Her eyebrows shot up. "That's new."  
  
Danny paused for a moment, then breathed. But he was amazed that she was surprised, and some how angry not get a reaction.  
  
"Why don't you care?" He knew his anger was stupid, but it was tough dealing with it, and this girl was taking it like he was telling a slightly interesting fact that had nothing to do with anything, not reveiling his most important secret. Aisling's eyes narrowed.  
  
"Oh, you wonder why do you?" She grimaced. "Do you want to be special? You think special can't hurt, and I don't know about it." She was taking his tone of voice much worse than Danny had thought was possible.  
  
"I'll show you why." And she tensed. Danny backed off, not sure what was happening.  
  
Suddenly, her form wavered slightly, and her neck arched forward, like one does when streaching after a long sleep. In an elegant fall she dropped to four legs, and shook her head.  
  
A hyena. 


End file.
